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23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


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Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


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D 


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D 
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Coloured  covers/ 
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b 
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.laliti  in6gale  do  I'impression 


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T 
si 

T 


M 

di 
ei 
b< 

"1 
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D 


Additional  comments:/ 
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This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film*  au  taux  de  reduction  indiquA  ci-dessous. 


10X 


14X 


18X 


22X 


26X 


XX 


7^Ti r 


12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


tails 

du 
odifier 

une 
mage 


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shall  contain  the  symbol  — ♦•  (meaning  "CON- 
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L'exemplaire  film*  fut  reproduit  grAce  A  la 
gAnArosit*  de: 

Library  Division 

Provincial  Archives  of  British  Columbia 

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conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimAe  sont  fiimis  en  commenpant 
par  Ifi  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
derniire  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustratiort,  soit  par  le  3econd 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmAs  en  commen^ant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'iiiustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  derniire  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — ^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
filmis  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diffArents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  il  est  film*  A  partir 
de  I'angle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


rata 

0 


teiure, 
I  A 


3 


32X 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

^mmmmmi^i^ 


(\'<J    -MWlQ'/f 


.  '^V    J^-;  *     RUSSIAN   AMERICA. 

I!»    '/M.       J'      n•^Jl.ll.Mi      ■     ;-.    •    .'.i,.  .11.    '      •■      ;•.:■ 


IN  the  maps  of  our  great-grandfathers,  what  were  tlien  unknown 
patches  of  the  earth's  surface  used  to  be  adorned,  in  lack  of 
other  details,  with  hideous  images  of  bears — signifying,  doubtless, 
that  these  animals  were  inonarchs  of  all  they  surveyed.  In  like 
fashion,  some  sprightly  cavillers  at  the  late  transfer  of  Russian 
America  to  the  Republic,  have  been  parading  their  ignorance  of 
that  region  by  portraying  it  as  crammed  with  icebergs  from  Dixon's 
Entrance  to  Behring's  Straits.  But  now  that  Russian  America  is 
Russian  America  no  longer,  and  the  "  gentleman  from  Oonemak  " 
may  soon  be  expected  to  whittle  his  desk  in  the  House  and  imbibe 
his  train-oil  cocktail  in  the  Lobby,  facts  about  our  new  north- 
western lands  should  usurp  the  place  of  theory.  ■  i,  ;f.-v:fi;ii  .■. 

Jutting  out  from  the  continent  like  the  stump  of  an  arm  shorn 
short,  Russian  America  displays  at  the  first  glance  the  broad 
stretch  of  its  domain — an  area,  in  round  figures,  of  400,000  square 
miles.  From  Cape  Muzon,  its  southernmost  cape,  in  latitude  64°  40', 
to  Cape  North,  nearly  in  latitude  73°,  is  a  weep  of  eighteen  de- 
grees. From  the  easternmost  summit  of  the  mountain  chain 
which  divides  it  from  Columbia,  in  longitude  131  W.,  to  the  last 
little  Aleutian  isle,  out  alone  in  Behring's  Sea,  in  longitude  176  E., 
b  a  span  of  53°.  Again,  from  Island  Prince  of  Wales,  in  the  south- 
east corner,  to  Cape  Prince  of  Wales,  in  the  northwestern,  the  dis- 
tance, as  the  crow  flies,  is  about  1,500  miles,  crossing  none  but 
Russian  American  soil :  the  line  joinir.g  any  other  corners  is  some- 
thing less. 

What  is  the  climate  of  this  new  territory  oi'  ours  ?  The  whole 
country  seems  to  have  been  vaguely  set  down,  hitherto,  as,  in 
Claudio's  phrase,  a  "  thrilling  region  of  thick-ribbed  ice  " — a  barren, 
cheerless  Arctic  tract,  an  ante-chamber  to  the  Pole,  a  country  where 

Icy  mountains,  hiprh  on  mountains  piled, 
Seem  to  the  sliivering  sailors  from  afar 
Shapeless  and  wlxite,  an  atmosphere  of  clouds. 

On  the  other  hand,  one  scientific  gentleman  (not  really  designing 
to  abuse  the  country)  has  incautiously  described  the  climate  of  the 
coast,  as  far  as  Behring's  Straits,  as  "  about  the  same,  in  Winter, 
as  that  of  Washington  " — than  which  no  comparison  could  be  more 
unsavory.  However,  this  last  assertion  is  couhur  de  rose :  the  aver- 
age climate  and  temperature  of  tlie  coast  from  British  Columbia  to 
Behring's  Straits,  are  almost  precisely  those  of  Newfoundland. 

Rightly  to  understand  the  climate  of  Russian  America,  its 
geography  must  be  studied.     To  begin  with,  a  country  stretching 


t 


unknown 
n  lack  of 
ioubtleas, 
In  like 
Russian 
orance  of 
n  Dixon's 
Lmerica  is 
onemak  " 
d  imbibe 
!W  north- 

rm  shorn 
he  broad 
)0  square 
e  64°  40', 
itoen  de- 
lin  chain 
3  the  last 
e  176  E., 
he  south- 
,  the  dis- 
none  but 
I  is  some- 

le  whole 
to,  as,  in 
a  barren, 
ry  where 


csigning 
te  of  the 
Winter, 
be  more 
ihe  aver- 
imbia  to 
md. 

rica,   its 
retching 


RUSSIAN  AMERICA. 


105 


across  eighteen  parallels,  from  54°  40'  to  72°  40',  may  well  have 
variety  both  of  climate  and  products.  This  span  embraces  1,200 
miles  on  the  same  meridian,  that  is  to  say,  a  distance  like  thai,  from 
Mobile  to  Montreal.  Again,  all  students  of  physical  geography 
know  that  the  temperature  of  the  North  Pacific  coast  of  this  con- 
tinent ia  much  higher  than  that  of  the  Atlantic  coast  on  the  same 
parallel.  A  thermal  current  from  the  China  coast  trends  upward 
along  the  shores  of  Asia,  and  sets  across  toward  Russian  America, 
as  the  Gulf  Stream  sets  across  the  Atlantic  and  raises  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  European  coast.  According  to  the  isothermal  lines  of 
Humboldt,  since  affirmed,  Sitka,  the  territorial  capital,  has  the 
mean  temperature  of  St.  Petersburg,  while  the  whole  coast,  ad  far 
as  Behring's  Sea,  has  that  of  Newfoundland.  The  mean  temperature 
at  Sitka  is  34°  V  F.  in  Winter  and  56°  2"  in  Summer :  the  climate 
there  is  moist,  with  constant  evaporation,  little  snow  and  much  rain. 

So  much  for  the  southeastern  shore.  Glancing  at  the  southwest- 
em,  we  find,  in  conning  the  chart  (or  the  globe,  which  is  less  decep- 
tive for  high  latitudes),  that  the  harbors  of  Kodiak  and  Sitka  are 
on  the  same  parallel,  and  that  the  southeramost  part  of  Russian 
America  is  the  tip  of  this  limb,  not  that  of  the  other.  By  reason 
of  its  nearness  to  the  Asiatic  thermal  current,  Kodiak  has  rather  a 
milder  climate  than  Sitka.  In  fine,  the  Aleutian  Islands  and  Ali- 
aska,  whence  they  are  broken  off,  have  nearly  the  climate  of  the 
upper  part  of  the  British  Isles,  of  which,  by  the  way,  they  are  the 
exact  counterpart  in  position,  being  in  the  same  latitude  and  an 
exact  semicircle  distant  in  longitude. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  look  into  the  question  of  vegetation. 
As  the  fact  that  Russian  America  extends  north  and  south  a  dis- 
tance like  that  from  Florida  to  Labrador  explains  the  ludicrous 
discrepancies  in  the  stories  of  its  admirers  and  abusers  (the  one 
likening  its  climate  to  that  of  the  Inferno  of  Dante,  the  other  to 
that  of  the  inferno  of  modern  orthodoxy)  so,  too,  this  fact  shows 
how  the  same  country  can  grow  both  "  wheat  and  walrus,"  "  rein- 
deer and  radishes."  The  "  wheat-growing  line "  of  geographers 
passes  in  the  neighborhood  of  New  Archangel,  and  the  "  grain, 
barley,  ryo,  oats  "  line  includes  the  whole  southerly  coast,  with  the 
Aleutian  Isles,  round  to  Behring's  Sea. 

However,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  it  is  not  for  horticultural  uses 
that  the  Republic  aims  to  colonize  Russian  America.  The  climate 
of  nine-tenths  of  it  is  too  cold  and  the  soil  too  sterile,  to  relieve  such 
a  purpose  from  being  ludicrous.  In  a  few  favored  spots,  of  which 
mention  has  been  made,  there  is  now  a  limited  agriculture,  r,nd  that 
of  a  primitive  sort ;  elsewhere,  none.  Yet  this  scantiness  of  produc- 
tion is  partly  due  to  the  fur  companies,  who  have  found  it  for 
their  interest  to  import  cereals  rather  than  to  divert  labor  into  rais- 
ing them.      In  the  southern  or  coast  districts  and  the  islands,  vege- 

■prnifi-  N.  W.  Hjatr- ' 

FRO^    .NC( A. „   l.      .'WA 
VICTOrtJA,  L.  ^. 


105207 


X 


106 


RUSSIAN  AMERICA. 


tacion  is  not  backward.  Cabbages,  potatoes,  lettuce  and  turnips 
can  be  grown  there ;  hay  is  made  in  plenty,  the  grass  being  luxu- 
riant ;  and  as  high  as  60°,  barley,  buckwheat  and  rye  can  be  raised. 

Northern  Russian  America  is  good  for  notliing  as  regards  vegeta- 
tion, a  few  stunted  shrubs  and  Alpine  roots  alone  relieving  the  ice- 
fields. So,  too,  over  a  great  part  of  the  western  or  Behring's  Straits 
coast — a  thousand  miles  long — there  is  nothing  valuable  growing. 
The  shores  there  are  vacant  of  timber,  and  stunted  bushes,  con- 
taining untoothsome  berries  like  the  gooseberries  and  whortleber- 
ries of  the  higher  Mackenzie  district,  alone  show  "the  place  where 
the  trees  ought  to  grow."  The  ground  grows  itself  a  shaggy  coat 
of  moss,  <»s  the  animals  do  of  fur,  to  expel  the  Winter's  flaw,  Avhich, 
by  the  way,  is  a  terrible  affair  through  the  funnel  or  flue  of  Behr- 
ing's Straits.  Under  the  moss,  the  sheltered  soil  is  thawed  about 
ten  inches,  and  thence  frozen  solid  deep  into  the  bowels  of  the  earth, 
while  across  the  Straits,  on  the  Asiatic  side,  the  thawed  globe  is 
only  about  three  inches  deep,  for  lack  of  a  moss  blanket.  The 
Esquimaux  there,  instead  of  avoiding  the  gales  in  Winter  huts, 
pitches  his  shelter-tent  of  skin  in  an  airy  place,  that  the  wind  may 
blow  the  Snow  away. 

Luckily,  the  upper  waters  of  the  Kvitchpak,  like  the  Yukon 
through  its  whole  length,  are  lined  with  forests,  and  the  former 
nolle  river,  like  the  Mississippi,  throws  out  great  rafts  of  drifl  wood 
at  its  embouchure  in  Bhering's  Sea,  a  part  of  which,  floating  many 
miles  along  shore  in  the  current  which  sets  through  the  Straits, 
furnishes  the  post  of  St.  Michael  with  its  only  fuel.  But,  beside 
the  banks  of  the  Kvitchpak,  those  of  all  rivers  south  of  it,  and  most 
of  the  islands,  are  rich  in  fine  timber — chiefly  the  upland  cypress, 
varieties  of  the  pine  and  larch,  and  the  well-known  "  red-wood " 
peculiar  to  the  Pacific  coast.  There  are,  also,  black  and  white 
bircb,  good  wood  for  fuel  and  building.  The  forests  come  down  to 
the  water's  edge,  and  the  estuaries  are  fringed  with  fine  timber,  so 
that  a  saw-mill  built  on  a  river  bank  would  find  its  food  at  hand. 
There  is  no  oak  here,  but  there  is,  as  we  have  shown,  good  lumber 
for  shipbuilding,  and  some  excellent  spar  timber.  In  a  word,  all 
lumber  required  for  houses,  vessels  and  boats,  is  to  be  had,  and 
possibly  some  could  be  sold  for  the  same  purposes  on  the  Asiatic 
coast. 

That  there  are  precious  metals  in  Russian  America  admits  no 
doubt ;  that  they  will  not  be  worked  in  our  day,  admits  of  little 
less  doubt.  With  Colorado  seamed  and  ridge<f  with  gold,  it  is  odd 
to  hear  anxious  inquiries  if  the  yellow  ore  may  be  had  in  our 
new  possessions.  On  the  Stekeen  River,  the  most  southerly  of 
the  considerable  streams,  gold  has  been  discovered  to  exist.  This, 
however,  is  a  trivial  matter.  Near  the  mouth  of  the  Kupfer  or 
River,  half  way  between  Mt.  St.  Elias  and  Prince  William's 


Copper 


\ 


( 1  f 


RUSSIAN  AMERICA. 


107 


id  turnipa 
cing  Inxu- 
be  raised, 
•ds  vegeta- 
ig  tlie  ice- 
g's  Straits 
i  growing, 
ishes,  con- 
'hortleber- 
ace  Avhore 
aggy  coat 
iw,  which, 
B  of  Behr- 
ived  about 
the  earth, 
I  globe  ia 
ket.  The 
nter  huts, 
wind  may 

le  Yukon 
he  former 
Jrifl  wood 
;ing  many 
ie  Straits, 
lut,  beside 
I  and  most 
i  cypress, 
ed-wood  " 
md  white 
B  down  to 
timber,  so 
at  hand, 
d  lumber 
word,  all 
had,  and 
le  Asiatic 

idmits  no 
i  of  little 
,  it  is  odd 
id  in  our 
therly  of 
?t.  This, 
[upfer  or 
fVilliam's 


Sound,  copper  has  been  found.  What  is  worthier  of  note,  iron 
has  been  both  found  and  worked.  Most  important  of* all,  coal  is 
certainly  to  be  had,  two  mines  having  been  opened  on  the  Aleutian 
Islands  by  the  Russians,  one  of  which,  at  Kodiak,  is  now  working, 
und  the  produce  blazing  at  the  forge  in  repairing  ships,  and  even 
supplying  steam-vessels. 

Apropos  of  coal,  then,  we  leave  gold,  copper,  cabbages  and  barlej", 
to  speak  of  more  obvious  benefits  in  Russian  America.  A  hundred 
sail  of  our  Pacific  whaling  fleet  frequent  the  North  Pacific ;  the 
number  will  be  doubled,  and  the  trade  growing  between  Asia  and 
America,  especially  in  Japan  and  the  Amoor  country,  will  attract 
steamers,  provided  coaling  and  repairs  can  be  made  cheap  and  sure. 

The  Russian-American  coast  is  full  of  fine  harbors,  scattered 
along  a  thousand  miles.  That  of  Sitka  is  open  the  year  round.  Ice, 
such  is  the  moist  climate,  cannot  be  readily  gathered  near  there  for 
shipment  to  San  Francisco,  so  that  it  is  harvested  higher  up  on  the 
coast.  Kodiak  harbor,  on  the  same  parallel,  is  an  excellent  one. 
Cook's  Inlet,  between  it  and  the  mainland,  is  a  fine  sheet  of  water, 
broad,  deep  and  navigable,  so  that  that  famous  sailor,  penetrating 
it,  fancied  it  to  be  the  northwest  passage.  Prince  William's  Sound, 
further  east,  has  deep  water.  Between  Prince  of  Wales  Island  and 
the  Continent  are  several  serviceable  harbors.  From  the  south- 
eastern to  the  southwestern  extremity  of  the  seaboard,  groups  of 
islands  line  the  coasts,  under  whose  shelter  small  boats  can  traverse 
the  shoal  sounds  by  an  "  inside  line  "  for  a  thousand  miles.  The 
coal  at  Kodiak,  its  fine  harbor  and  endurable  climate,  will  doubtless 
give  it  a  claim  as  a  naval  station. 

Salmon  are  abundant  on  the  Kvitchpak,  and  excellent  codfish  and 
halibut  on  the  coasts.  The  commerce  in  fisheries  will  one  day  be 
valuable  for  both  continents,  and  fishermen  will  haunt  these  Pacific 
islands  as  they  do  the  colder  ones  of  the  same  Latitude  in  the  At- 
lantic, The  intrinsic  merits  of  Russian  America  had  better  be 
rested,  not  on  its  Washington-like  climate  and  Lombardy  gar- 
dens, but,  like  Newfoundland's,  on  its  fisheries  and  its  furs. 
Whales  and  walrus  bob  about  plentifully  in  Behring's  Sea,  and 
their  ivory  and  oil  will  be  made  very  profitable.  Even  the  ice-trade 
may  be  valuable,  such  are  the  facilities  for  making  ice  in  the  little 
lakes  near  the  coast.  As  to  the  fur  trade,  it  is  declining,  from  the 
scarcity  of  the  otter  and  seal ;  the  beaver,  too,  is  decreasing  the 
world  over. 

Around  all  the  islands,  particularly  the  Aleutian,  furs  are  still  to 
be  had.  Those  of  the  fur-seal  and  sea-beaver  are  magnificent.  Red 
foxes  are  plenty,  and  have  fine  furs.  Through  the  southwest 
peninsula  and  adjoining  islands,  is  found  the  so-called  "  American 
sable,"  which  is  no  sable  at  all,  but  a  lecies  of  marten  or  mink, 
with  hair  much  shorter  and  less  gloss j'  than  that  of  the  genuine 


1  f 


i 


108 


RUSSIAN  AMERICA, 


I 


sable.  There  are  ermines,  muskrats,  wolverines,  whose  furs  may  be 
Been  in  abundance  in  New  York,  mink,  a  speries  of  river  otter,  and 
beavers  in  great  numbers.  In  the  north  are  reindeer ;  further  south, 
the  ordinary  red  deer  of  the  forest. 

In  the  Russian  American  question,  the  shabbiest  item  is  the 
native  people.  These  are  few  in  number,  and  the  fewer  the  better. 
The  total  population  of  the  region  is  under  60,000,  whereof  the 
natives  may  be  rudely  set  down  at  about  55,000.  The  latter  are 
divided  into  two  great  and  absolutely  distinct  races — the  ordinary 
wood  Indian,  inhabiting  the  forest  districts,  and  the  Esquimaux. 
They  have  been,  from  the  earliest  record  to  the  present,  in  hostili- 
ties, and  in  need  of  "  military  reconstruction,"  or  a  metropolitan 
police.  The  Esquimaux  have  regular  and  permanent  settlements, 
but  no  form  of  government  and  no  chiefs  in  authority,  though  the 
counsels  of  the  elders  are  received  with  the  respect  due  to  years. 
The  Indians,  on  the  contrary,  have  their  chieilains  and  "  Big  In- 
dians." In  breed,  idiom  of  speech,  and  most  traits,  the  Russian 
Esquimaux  resemble  those  of  Greenland — and,  as  to  that,  the  Laps 
of  Norway  and  Sweden.  This  race  of  train-oil  eaters  seems  to  have 
followed  the  Arctic  circle  around  the  globe,  as  if  determined  to 
"  fight  it  out  on  that  line."  Wherever  Esquimaux  go,  the  reindeer 
go  with  them,  and  thus  their  zone,  girdling  the  earth,  is  also  fixed. 
While  unable  to  congratulate  the  country  on  this  accession  to  its 
voters  (for  disabilities  of  smell  and  color  are  now  unconstitutional), 
we  must  own  that  the  Esquimaux  are  teachable.  Some  have  learned 
English,  and  a  few  are  now  living  in  California.  Next  we  come  to 
the  "  Indians  not  taxed,"  Of  these,  some  tribes  are  lighter  tinged 
than  the  copper-colored  savages  whom  we  call  "  redskins,"  and 
their  ways  also  suggest  alliance  in  origin  with  the  yellow  Asiatics. 
The  Russian  troops  formerly  had  severe  fights  with  them.  They 
build  excellent  canoes,  holding  great  numbers  of  warriors,  for  their 
raids.  Formerly  considered  as  ugly  customers,  they  have  lately 
got  a  better  reputation.  They  are  shrewd  at  a  bargain,  and  have 
much  mechanical  skill  in  carving  and  imitative  work.  In  these 
points,  again,  oi;ir  thoughts  are  led  back  to  the  Chinese  and  other 
Asiatics,  And,  for  those  who  will  not  be  content  except,  that  all 
men  shall  derives  from  a  single  pair  of  ancestry,  and  yet  are  puzzled 
how  to  get  the  children  of  Adam  across  the  Atlantic  from  Eden  to 
people  America — it  needs  only  to  point  to  the  few  miles  of  sea  at 
Behring's  Straits,  On  a  fine  Summer's  day  the  Indians  may  be 
seen  shooting  across,  in  perpetual  solution  of  the  ethnic  problem, 

Russia  never  has  valued  her  American  possessions  a  straw.  They 
are  altogether  too  far  from  her  centre  of  action,  Russian 
America,  besides,  has  been  hopelessly  garroted  by  a  monopoly, 
being  se'  dowu  as  mere  corporation  real  e  tat«  Above  all,  Russia 
has  not  long  been  a  maritime  nation,  two-thirds  of  her  commerce, 


mmm 


RUSSIAN  AMERICA. 


lot 


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In  these 
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Russian 
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Jl,  Russia 
jommerce. 


a  score  of  years  ago,  as  statistics  show,  being  in  the  hands  of  Great 
Britain  alone.  Russian  America,  therefore,  cost  her  far  more  than  it 
came  to,  and  should  it  do  as  badly  for  us,  the  bargain  will  bo  a 
sorry  one.  However,  no  parallel  exists  between  Russia's  use 
of  tliat  territory  and  ours:  for  example,  its  tisheries  (especially 
now  that  those  of  the  Atlantic  are  jeopardized)  will  probably  train 
seamen  for  our  navy,  while  to  Russia  this  benefit  was  nothing. 
For  a  Russian  to  go  to  Russian  America  was  equal  to  Siberian  exile, 
except  for  the  honor  and  profit  attendant.  A  bait  of  enormous 
salary — enough  to  drive  crazy  with  wild  expectancy,  our  already 
fluttering  candidates  for  the  post — reconciled  nobles  to  taking  the 
governorship.  Rear- Admiral  Furlghellem  (a  German  name,  but  he 
was  of  Russian  birth)  held  the  post  five  years  Prince  Macsautoff, 
whom  some  readers  may  have  chanced  to  meet  in  Atlantic  cities, 
succeeded  him,  and  is  still  living  with  his  charming  wife  and  family 
in  Sitka,  in  voluntary  banishment  from  civilization. 

The  Russian  colony  is  a  petty  affair.  The  Russians  and  half- 
breeds  combined  probably  do  not  exceed  3,000  or  3,500,  of  whom 
the,  Russians  number  about  650.  The  half-breeds  are  commonly 
called  "Creoles,"  an  obvious  misnomer  aiming  to  designate  the 
oflfepring  of  a  Russian  father  and  a  native  mother.  The  capital, 
New  Archangel  (or  Sitka,  as  Americans  generally  call  it),  on  the 
island  of  Baranov  or  Sitka,  is  a  town  of  about  800  inhabitants.  It 
boasts  a  fort,  church,  school  and  governor's  mansion — a  plain 
structure,  looking  like  a  well-to-do  farm-house.  The  remaining 
architecture  of  Sitka  is  not  impressive.  The  island,  which  slightly 
rises  from  the  sea,  has  a  good  harbor :  Sitka  is  the  native  name,  the 
other  a  Russian  euphuism.  Beside  the  Greek  church  at  Sitka, 
there  are  a  few  others  along  the  coast :  a  new  religious  sect,  accord- 
ingly, is  added  to  our  list,  and  the  Frenchman's  exclamation — 
"  Mon  dieu  !  what  Republique !  one  tousand  religions  and  only  one 
gravy  " — gains  new  point. 

The  Russian  military  force  now  there  is  trifling.  At  first  it  was 
from  350  to  400  strong;  then,  less  than  200;  iifiw,  hardly  over  150 
effectives.  At  Sitka,  however,  the  fort  has  ordnance  enough,  of 
minute  calibre,  to  employ  a  battalion  in  its  serving.  The  military 
occupancy  is  a  form,  the  governance  of  the  territory  being  mainly 
left  to  the  Company.  Along  the  coast  is  strung  a  chain  of  twenty 
or  thirty  petty  1  rading-posts,  protected  by,  or,  rather,  visibly  con- 
sisting of,  a  simple  redoubt.  The  Russian  term  for  this  defence 
and  station  is  krepost ;  we  should  perhaps  call  it  stockade,  or,  more 
exactly,  block-house.  These  posts  and  all  that  in  them  is,  at  Sitka 
and  elsewhere,  fall  into  our  hands. 

The  Russian  Company,  wanting  no  intruders  on  its  domains,  has 
checked  inducements  to  colonization.  At  its  headquarters  in  St. 
Petersburg,  it  held  a  sort  of  dioiaum  irn^rium  with  the  Autocrat 


h 


110 


RUSSIAN  AMERrCA. 


w 


n 


fi  ; 


over  the  northwesterly  limb  of  America.  The  Government  snffored 
its  few  troops — a  single  company  only  garrisoning  Sitka  itKelf— to 
dispel  the  ennui  of  military  duties  by  Fur  Company  work,  at  a 
slight  extra  pay.  The  Company  has  many  agents  and  hunters  for 
the  gathering  of  fish  and  furs,  and  eight  or  ten  good,  sea-going  ves- 
sels, beside  smaller  crafl.  Fort  Nicholas  is  on  Cook's  Inlet;  Fort 
St.  Michael,  on  Norton's  Sound,  a  redoubt  with  accommodations 
for  sixty  persons,  is  the  head  station  of  the  Company  for  liehring's 
Sea,  seventy  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Kvitchpak. 

The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  has,  on  sufferance,  one  post.  Fort, 
Yukon,  within  "our"  territory,  at  the  junction  of  the  Porcupine 
and  Yukon  rivers,  where,  in  latitude  66°,  they  form  the  Kvitchpak. 
The  treaties  of  1825  and  1867  fix  the  line  of  demarcation,  beyond 
dispute,  along  the  meridian  141°  W.  The  rival  companies  guard 
their  hunters  from  collision  by  forbidding  them  a  Avide  band  of 
debatable  ground  midway  between  Fort  Yukon  and  Fort  St. 
Michael. 

Behring's  Straits— the  sluiceway  between  the  Pacific  and  Asia — 
always  excites  the  student's  curiosity.  Along  the  neighboring  shores 
are  written  up  on  cape  and  inlet  and  estuary  the  imperishable 
names  of  the  hardy  navigators  who  explored  the  coast — stout  old 
Behring,  Cook,  Barrow,  Norton,  Kotzebue,  and  we  might  well  add 
gallant  Parry  and  Franklin.  The  shortest  distance  from  hemisphere 
to  hemisphere  is  but  39  nautical  miles  or  40  statute  miles.  In  Sum- 
mer, Indians  ply  to  and  fro  in  their  walrus-skin  canoes,  the  water 
being  then  often  calm  enough  to  cross  a  rati  or  skiff  there.  In 
Winter  the  way  is  frozen  solid  and  the  traveling  is  in  sledges,  the 
Indians  trading  the  furs  across  from  tribe  to  tribe.  There  are  no 
icebergs  of  consequence  here,  but  when  the  ice  breaks  up,  it  breaks 
usually  into  anchor  ice.  Whales  then  come  down  the  straits,  in 
their  breeding-season,  it  being  needful  for  them  to  seek  soundings. 

In  the  bight  of  this  slender  strait  which  binds  two  oceans  and 
severs  two  continents,  lie  four  little  islands,  whereof  two  come  to 
us  and  two  are  remanded  to  Russia.  To  us  comes  the  great  isle 
of  St.  Lawrence,  and,  in  brief,  all  the  rest  in  Behring's  Sea  except 
Behring's  Island,  which  belongs  to  Kamtchatka.  Will  this  strait, 
the  confluence  of  seas  and  severance  of  empires,  be  always  a  mere 
Indian  ford  in  Summer  and  ice  causeway  in  Winter,  or  will  it  ever 
be  a  commercial  thoroughfare  ?  The  crossing-point  is  below  the 
Arctic  Circle — a  thousand  miles  in  latitude  below  where  Wrangel 
reached ;  the  snow,  as  usual  in  high  latitudes,  does  not  fall  so  freely 
as  further  south.  Once  across  the  straits,  and  a  coach  and  four  in 
Summer  could  be  guided  without  an  upset  straight  to  St.  Peters- 
burg. There  are  no  hostile  Inrlians  on  the  way.  Some  day,  some 
adventurous  American,  of  the  ocean-yachting  sort,  will  drive  his 
chaise  or  sleigh  from  New  York  into  St.  Petersburg  or  Paris. 

G.  E.  PoiO). 


ent  suffered 
a  itself— to 
work,  .it  a 
hunters  for 
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r  Behring'a 

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Porcupine 
Kvitchpak. 
ion,  beyond 
miea  guard 
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and  Asia — 
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. — stout  old 
ht  well  add 
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s.  In  Sura- 
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oceans  and 
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will  it  ever 
i  below  the 
re  Wrangel 
"all  so  freely 
and  four  in 
St.  Peters- 
day,  some 
11  drive  his 
Paris. 
E.  Pond. 


